In everyday life and at work, it helps if you approach large projects step by step. This is how microlearning works: Small learning bites create real learning transfer! Check out examples of microlearning now – as an alternative to complex instructions in everyday life and as online support for training.
Update September 2020
The Ultimate Microlearning Guide for Online Courses
Start now with your own microlearning course! In our new guide, you will learn step by step how to build your own microlearning. With plenty of tips and examples.
The Idea Behind Microlearning: Short Learning Bites
Microlearning, bite-sized learning, or Bite-sized Learning – all these terms aim at one idea: Simplifying the learning process by breaking it down into small bites. It works in corporate training just as it does in everyday life when, for example, you want to use a device for the first time.
Update August 2022: Are you interested in the topic of learning bites? Then also read the article about Learning Nuggets (Definition + Examples) on our blog! 💡
The idea of microlearning: breaking down learning content into small bites so they are easier to process.
If you want to offer content in the form of microlearning, ideally start directly with small bites. How that works has been described here some time ago: Microlearning – 3 Rules for Creating Learning Bites.
Today I will present to you concrete examples of microlearning. Here’s what short learning content can look like in everyday life and at work:
In everyday life: As an alternative to unwanted instructions
At work: As an online course for corporate training
1. Example: Microlearning in Instructions
When did you last read an instruction manual? I mean – really read it? It has probably been quite a while – at least that’s what a study that examined our behavior with operating instructions suggests. “Life is too short to RTFM” is the name of the study: Life is too short to read instruction manuals.
The findings of the scientific study are not surprising to us, but they do provide us with nice statistics on the topic of learning:
People read only about 25% of instructions for devices in everyday life.
The more educated, the less people read instructions.
The younger you are, the less people read instructions.
The reason: Instructions are often too complex and we associate them with negative emotions: Takes too long – Doesn’t help anyway – Doing it myself is faster! The trend is towards “learning by doing” – especially among educated and young people.
To not leave customers completely alone, more and more companies are resorting to the concept of microlearning. Often, they not only provide the detailed instructions for looking up a specific problem but also a very brief, usually illustrated quick start guide for the initial steps.
Microlearning in everyday life works best as a quick start guide: As few steps as possible, presented as simply as possible!
Microlearning Example: Guide for the rocket pack – Card game for Blended Learning
The rocket pack is a card game for trainers who seek inspiration for their blended learning. Along with a small instruction booklet with detailed descriptions, there’s also a card that the user can start with right away – following the principle of microlearning:
Three small steps
Little text, simply formulated
Clearly illustrated
Very action-oriented
Starting directly is more fun than first reading the instructions. Learn more about the rocket pack at blink.it/rocketpack!
2. Example: Microlearning in Trainings
Our behavior with instructions shows how important learning in small bites is in all forms of learning. However, not all content is as easy to understand as in the card game rocket pack. For long-term behavioral changes in corporate learning, a training participant often needs to process many and complex content.
Trainers therefore often find it difficult to summarize their knowledge accumulated over years in two minutes. And don’t worry: Microlearning is not about cutting so much that only an empty shell remains! On the contrary: Content for microlearning is not only short but also very action-oriented.
Just like in this example from trainer Wolfgang Schneiderheinze, who addresses the topic of “fillers” in his online support in the form of microlearning: In just a little over a minute, a problem, a solution, and an exercise task is wrapped up for the participants – very briefly, yet full of content:
This Is What Microlearning as Online Support Looks Like
The video just shown is part of a complete online course as micro-content. The idea: Offer many short learning impulses after a traditional in-person training.
This way, the training participant can gradually process small pieces of content – ideally spread over several weeks to enhance the learning transfer.
Integrated into a complete online course, microlearning looks like this:
Example Microlearning with the learning platform blink.it: Green micro-content has already been seen by the user; blue is unlocked but not yet seen.
This Is How Microlearning Works in the Online Course for the Participants
Basically, each tile (“Blink”) is a micro-content, meaning a small learning unit. It can be a video, a small text, or even a quiz. What’s important is that each Blink in microlearning is connected with a specific call to action and is really quick to process.
The participant starts with the first Blink and gradually works through the entire course – always with their own time management, embedded in their everyday life.
How you can use these methods can be seen in the following examples of microlearning. This is what the methods “Look forward to it”, “The Virtual Discussion,” and “Tickle the Detective in You” look like when implemented in an online course:
1. Microlearning Example “Look Forward to…” (Category: Support)
2. Microlearning Example “The Virtual Discussion” (Category: Reflection)
3. Microlearning Example “Tickle the Detective in You” (Category: Understanding)
The result in all examples: Short learning bites with compact content that are perfectly suited for microlearning!
